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film study: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990 vs. 2014]

like most 90s kids, I grew up watching the Ninja Turtle films so much, it actually felt unhealthy! It quickly became one of my favorite films of my childhood – even today, the film stands as a nostalgic piece of my past. I loved the characters, the villains, even the awesome [though, extremely idiotic] Foot Clan! and then there were talks of a remake [you know, another one..]

Until recently [yesterday, in fact] I had little to no intention of seeing this remake — the trailer looked like every other action film on the market lately, and the turtles looked..alien-like. But as a Turtles fan, I bit my tongue, and accepted this ‘re-imagining’ of my childhood. In this post, I will be talking about the two films, both the 1990 film and the new 2014 reboot. Due to the fact that I grew up with the 90s film, I’m going to try and be as unbiased as possible..

DJ Mikey in the hiz-ouse!

Starting with the new film, I want to begin by saying it wasn’t a bad film and it got some key points right – it just didn’t feel like a Turtles film. [the story-line was wrong, the Foot Clan are now terrorists with guns? and worst of all – Shredder looks like a damn Transformer]

Let’s look the main thing that was done correctly which I believe the most important [though small] detail: April O’Neil‘s coat. Yes – her outfit.

When I remember April O’Neil from the comics/cartoons/90s films, I think of the photo on the left – her Channel6 jumper and her iconic red hair. But yet, when we look at Megan Fox in the new film [on the right]: she may not be a Ginger, and although it has been ‘modernized’ — she has a yellow leather coat on which I like to believe was clearly a nod to the classics!

As seen in the picture above, the other great thing about the 2014 film is that we saw each Turtle with their own ‘strengths’, which gave them [albeit, small] depth as their own character. [Leo – the leader / Mikey – the ‘surfer dude’ / Don – the geek / Raph – the brute] although, spoiler: I don’t ever want to hear a Turtle talk about Megan Fox being so hot that his shell is ‘tightening’ ever again.. it’s fucking creepy.

This may explain my love for the original film[s] — they are cheesy, the characters aren’t that creepy, and the Turtles were guys in suits created by Jim Henson’s creature shop! It doesn’t help that I saw the classics first, which I guess makes me a bit more biased.

So was the 2014 film worth seeing? In my opinion, it was only worth your time to say you saw it. [I was fortunate enough to see it for free] it’s got smart ass Turtles, overly sexual Turtle [I’m looking at you, Mikey..], and some half-decent fight scenes. Oh, Megan Fox and Will Arnett are in it too, so that certainly helps. [it ended on a cliffhanger too – hinting at SUPER SHREDDER for the sequel in 2016]

So did you see the new Ninja Turtle film? What did you think? Worthwhile, or meh? Let me know your thoughts in a comment below!

Also, as this is my weekend to work [all day/night tonight to Sunday], there might feel like a lack of posts until Monday morning. By then, I should be back in full swing with new posts, etc.